Executive Orders

Featured Content January 24, 2017 - Available on govinfo for Presidents Trump through Clinton (back to 1995)

About Executive Orders

Executive Orders have the force and effect of law and are generally used by the Executive Office of the President to provide direction to Federal Agencies and officials as they carry out operations within the executive branch. The authority for the President to issue Executive Orders can be found in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution granting the President “executive power.”

The Office of the Federal Register (OFR), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), assigns a sequential number to each Executive Order after receiving the signed, original document from the White House. OFR then publishes the text of the Executive Order in the daily Federal Register; it is eventually codified in Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The text of the Executive Orders is also made available in the Compilation of Presidential Documents, which are the official publications of materials released by the White House Press Secretary.